By Bob Strohm and Gary Ogle
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com; gogle@wbcowqel.com

One man’s appearance in Crawford County Common Pleas Court was more than a year overdue. Joseph Sackman paid the price for his tardiness with a prison sentence.

Sackman was given an eight-month prison sentence for fifth-degree felony possession of drugs, a $1,250 fine and a six-month driver’s license suspension.

Prior to sentencing Judge Sean Leuthold asked Sackman if there was anything he wanted to say prior to sentencing in which Sackman stated that he is in a better place now.

“I am quite happy I have come back to complete this, and move on with my life,” Sackman said.

When asked by the judge where he had been during the past several months, Sackman responded that he was living in the wilderness.

“The past few years I have travelled the country living in the wilderness,” Sackman said. “During that time I was able to find myself and have been off of heroin for 18 months.”

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Another case more than a year old since its filing came to a conclusion Wednesday in Common Pleas Court.

John Stanton, a former agent with Midland Insurance Agency in Galion, had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of fifth-degree felony theft. Thursday, Judge Sean Leuthold sentenced Stanton to three years of community control.

Attorney Chris Kinsler from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office said the state’s only request was that Stanton not have any position in the insurance industry. The judge made that a part of his condition of probation along with fines and costs.

“The measure of a man is what he does after his mistakes,” Leuthold said.

The judge ordered one defendant into the ISAT program during her sentencing on Wednesday. When asked how long it has been since she last used drugs, Amy Swalley answered that prior to being put in jail – in May.

On top of the ISAT program Swalley was given five years community control, a $1,250 fine, and six-month driver’s license suspension. Leuthold said that Swalley was a good candidate for the ISAT program and if she completes the program she has the opportunity to have her community control sentence reduced.

James Shenk, Timothy Evans, Mike Stanley and Angela Carroll will have to await their sentencing day. All four had changes of plea in the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas Wednesday and were ordered to receive pre-sentence investigations.

Evans, who has a third-degree felony domestic violence charge, is facing a possibility of 36 months prison and completion of anger management classes. He was also ordered not to have contact with the victim. Evans’ personal recognizance bond was continued.

Stanley, who pled guilty to a fifth-degree felony theft charge, was recommended for a sentence of one year on community control and a $500 fine plus costs of the actions. Stanley’s personal recognizance bond was continued through the pre-sentence investigation.

Both Shenk and Carroll pleaded guilty to fifth-degree felony possession of drugs. Both are facing five years of community control, a $1,250 drug fine, and six-month driver’s license suspension. Both Shenk and Carroll had their bonds continued.